Wedding Custom of the Month
October: The Huppah

The huppah (also spelled "chuppah") is a canopy used today in most Jewish weddings. The couple, the rabbi, and often parents and other attendants stand under the huppah for the duration of the wedding ceremony.

The canopy itself is usually made of cloth – often silk, satin, or velvet. Sometimes the fabric is a large prayer shawl, perhaps the prayer shawl of one of the partners' grandparents. Many couples rent a huppah or use one that belongs to their synagogue, but couples that use their own huppahs sometimes turn the fabric into a wall hanging or a quilt afterwards. A huppah's canopy is seen as a shelter that evokes the couple's shared home. The huppah has historical connections to ancient rooms where marriage was consummated, traditionally in the groom's family house, tent, or compound, the home where a bride would arrive during the wedding festivities and live for the rest of her life.

The huppah is supported by four poles, usually made of wood. Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire writes, "There is a rabbinic tradition of planting a pine tree to mark the birth of a daughter and a cedar for the birth of a son. For the marriage ceremony, branches would be cut from the couple's tees and carved to make the poles for the chuppah (Talmud Gittin 57a).* The poles may be fixed to the ground or held by four people specially chosen for this role named unterferers – supporters" (Shire, p. 36).

Some say that the huppah poles represent the pillars of trust and faith that support a marriage. I like the fact that this interpretation equates the huppah's canopy with the marriage, and implies that it is the marriage that shelters the couple during the wedding.

The huppah is covered on top, but open on all sides. Many view its openness as a symbol of hospitality evoking Abraham and Sarah's tent, which was also open on all sides so that the couple could invite passersby inside.

Today many couples adorn their huppahs with flowers. While I sense the appeal of marrying in these enchanted spots, I think that huppahs that look more earthy and protective convey more meaning. A huppah that is made from a quilt (or the top of a quilt) can look substantial and homey but still be very pretty. A number of couples use panel quilts as huppahs. Some of these couples give squares to their friends and family to stencil, batik, or otherwise decorate. They have all of these squares sewn into a huppah, then into a quilt for their marriage bed. Thus these couples are warmed and sheltered in their own beds by the love of their friends and family. Here again, the huppah juxtaposes intimacy with extroversion. The community hosts the partners in their own bed, and ideally, the partners will respond by keeping the doors of their cozy home open to the community.


References:

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire, Mazal Tov!: The Rituals and Customs of the Jewish Wedding. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2002.



* An author at http://www.ritualwell.org/ writes that a daughter's birth was traditionally marked by planting a cypress rather than a pine. If you're interested in the tradition of planting trees to mark births, you might look into this contradiction. Perhaps the name of the tree is variously translated as "cypress" and "pine" or each tree was used in a different period – I'm not sure.

Copyright 2005 Kelly Fine. You may print this document for your personal use. Do not reproduce it by other means or for another purpose without my permission.